Sunday, December 05, 2010

Free Inside! - Part 6

Early 1971 saw the launch of Polystyle's new tv adventure comic Countdown and the free gift in issue 1 was this impressive wall poster and the first set of stickers. Further stickers were given away over the following few weeks.

It's a sign of the time that these days such a detailed and informative poster such as this would be considered too "old" for the readers of current UK comics. However you might find something like it given free in a newspaper now, which would never have happened 40 years ago. Perhaps this indicates how "dumbed down" society has become over the past four decades.

The early 1970s also saw Cor!! give away the Ratty Rasper inspired by the popular Rat Trap story inside. This cardboard envelope contained a wound elastic band and metal washer which you would release by squashing the envelope, thus making the washer make the "rasping" sound. A nice addition was the tongue that poked out.

Also in the 1970s The Topper gave away a plastic kazoo called the Humdinger:

1974 saw Valiant and Lion present a fun free gift, The Kicking Footballer. It came in plastic kit form and instructions inside explained what to do...

...resulting in the figure below:

In Part 5 I showed the free gift that came with Monster Fun No.1. Here's the free Spider Ring that came with issue 2:

In 1980 Victor presented a small metal Thumbs Up pin badge:

I also have two similar metal gifts, but I've forgotten which comic they came with. Any ideas? I think they were from Tops (later TV Tops) published by D.C. Thomson in 1981.

To celebrate its landmark 1,000th issue in 1981 Look and Learn featured a free mini chess set:

1982 saw Victor give away the Soccer Star Badge. A large plastic badge in a football design, with stickers you could choose to pop into the clear window in the centre of the gift:

A year later, in 1983, D.C. Thomson's Spike comic presented the Ghostly Glow Badge, a nicely sculpted three dimensional gift. Did it really glow in the dark?

Yes it did! Spooky!

Speaking of badges, here's a few more that appeared in various comics. The sources should be obvious:

The final part of this feature on old free gifts will appear during the week!

Ah the fun and games of the past.. I still remember some of the more modern 80s comics (and in fact, comics and annuals before that) which used to have a two page spread that was a board game to play.. or the amount of Comics that used to tell you to 'cut up' the comic... of course, late 90s, then free posters stopped and became 'two pages of the comic which you pull out for you wall', that started to annoy me.. even worse, when atlest one time, it meant losing the last page of the comic story...

Seconded for the Space Invader pin badge being a cover gift from Tops. I've still got mine! And the skull and crossbones was Tops too, I remember I had to try very hard to get the copy with it as a gift as it was so popular.

Next event, ICE2017, on September 9th...

About this blog:

Established in 2006, BLIMEY! is a blog that looks back at classic British comics and promotes current and upcoming titles. Images are copyright their respective publishers and are only used here for review purposes.

The images of comics on my blog are ones I've spent time scanning from my own personal comics collection or, in the case of some current issues, are promotional images sent to me by the publishers. On the rare occasion when I might use an image from another site I always credit the source. If you take images I've scanned to use on your own blog/site it's good manners to show the same courtesy.

No links to sites that indulge in wholesale piracy of comics are tolerated here. If you're a genuine comics fan, support the industry by buying the comics.

About Me

I work as a professional humour comics artist and writer and have been freelancing full time since 1984, creating many characters such as TOM THUG, PETE AND HIS PIMPLE, COMBAT COLIN, BRICKMAN, ROBO-CAPERS, DEREK THE TROLL, SUBURBAN SATANISTS and others.
I've freelanced for IPC, Marvel Comics, Egmont, Panini,D.C. Thomson, and many others, covering the comics field from originated characters to licensed properties, pre-school to adult on comics such as BUSTER, OINK!, BEANO, DANDY, TRANSFORMERS, SONIC THE COMIC, TOXIC, VIZ, CiTV TELLYTOTS, LEGO ADVENTURES, HERMAN HEDNING, SWEET FA, ACTION FORCE, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, RAMPAGE, LUCKY BAG COMIC, SWIFTSURE, WARLOCK, WHITE DWARF, ACES WEEKLY, THE DAREDEVILS, THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL, and many more.
My recent comics work has included:'Team Toxic' for Egmont's TOXIC magazine'Postman Prat', 'Kid Cops' and 'The Dark Newt' for THE DANDY'Rasher', 'Pup Parade', 'Lord Snooty' and 'Ivy the Terrible' for THE BEANO.
'The Daft Dimension' for DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE.